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Life & Arts

Violence and cursing like peas and carrots

Leet Speak

Derek Lanphier

I was playing the still relatively new Counter Strike: Source the other day and found myself observing a strange event. For those of you who don't know, Counter Strike is littered with trash talkers, dumb people, and gun enthusiasts, and the particular server I was on was a prime example of this. Swear words and hybrids of swear words were flying through the air like the bullets. But at one point the normal conversation halted when one person said on his computer microphone, "Can you guys watch the language? Because my 10-year-old plays this game." 

Of course he was laughed out of the server, but not before I asked him a question that has always made people think and one that he didn't have an answer for: How can you let your young kid play a violent and bloody game but not allow him to hear swearing?

That never really made any sense to me. In fact, I've always felt the two went hand in hand. Unless we all end up like the MPAA, ESRB, or some other censoring bureau who's motto is, "Gratuitous violence and gore is OK, as long as there is no bad language or nudity." Is this our fate?

Anyway, playing Counter Strike for the first time in a while compelled me to write about the game that was a budding area for much of today's Leet Speak. If you haven't played the new Counter Strike: Source yet, you should. And if you haven't even played Half Life 2 yet, you either: A) Deserve a kick to the face, B) Are waiting in line right now to purchase it, or C) Deserve a kick to the face.

In other words, this weekend buy Half-Life 2 or if you already got it, play some good old school Counter Strike, because you won't realize how much you've missed it until you play it again. You could even set a local area network party up with your friends and trash talk like the old days.
 

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